Pastor Maldonado said Williams' ability to improve his car consistently throughout Saturday's running was the key to his second place on the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Having been 16th quickest in FP3 there was little to suggest that Maldonado would be a threat during qualifying, with the front row expected to be dominated by Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. While Hamilton delivered a supreme lap to take pole by half a second, Vettel struggled to repeat his earlier pace in Q3 and Maldonado split the pair with a stunning lap at the end of the session.

Maldonado said he was still working on getting the car to his liking throughout qualifying but was confident his race pace would also be strong.

"I think we were working very hard because at the beginning of the weekend and during the practice we were a little bit lost with the set-up," Maldonado said. "We were improving, especially in the qualy; during qualifying just trying to adapt the car to my style. We found a very good balance, especially in qualy two and qualy three.

"I'm really looking forward to the race because yesterday we showed a very good pace, very consistent, so I think it's going to be a good one for us this time."

Maldonado also didn't put too much emphasis on the start of the race, saying that there would be opportunities to overtake despite it being a street circuit.

"I think it's possible to overtake here, especially because of the big tyre degradation we will have tomorrow. I think everyone will be struggling with the tyres at some time, so the strategy must be really good for everyone. You have to try to be consistent, but I think here it is possible to overtake; you have a long straight with the DRS zone. It's not going to be very easy but we have a couple of places."